


Midnight Snacks

by bellestar



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ben and Rey are pretty cute in this, Ben is gonna make Rey all kinds of deliciousness, Cooking, Dessert, F/M, Fluff, Prompt Fic, Reylo - Freeform, Reylo Prompt, Soft Ben Solo, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, grilled cheese sandwiches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:26:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23884471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bellestar/pseuds/bellestar
Summary: Ben Solo just wants make a grilled cheese sandwich at 1:43am when a girl wanting to make Midnight Noodles interrupts him.  Her midnight snack of choice just won't do.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 116
Kudos: 525
Collections: Galactic Idiots Collection, Reylo Prompt Fills (@reylo_prompts)





	Midnight Snacks

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Ночной перекус](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29086710) by [WTF Star Wars Sequels 2021 (Star_Wars_Sequels)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Star_Wars_Sequels/pseuds/WTF%20Star%20Wars%20Sequels%202021)



> The Reylo fluff sommelier, [@galacticidiots](https://twitter.com/galacticidiots), posted the following prompt:  
> Sometimes I really just want an AU where B & R meet after hours in the community kitchen of their residence hall because Ben is an insomniac and Rey craves midnight noodles and even though he doesn’t know her he refuses to let her eat *that*. He cooks for her. It becomes a thing.
> 
> I just **had** to!

It’s 1:43am, and all he wants is to make a grilled cheese sandwich. This won’t be a standard grilled cheese sandwich made with cheddar between two slices of boring white bread. If you’re using packaged bread that has been mashed over and over again from the big box grocery store chain, then he thinks there’s something wrong with that.

Ben went to Maz’s Market earlier in the day to pick up all the ingredients:

Ben Solo’s Gourmet Grilled Cheese: 

_Slices of thick cut Artisan bread (He plans to make two sandwiches, so 4 slices will be fine.)_

_6 oz Gruyere cheese sliced thinly, at room temperature_

_6 oz White cheddar cheese sliced thinly, at room temperature_

_2 slices thin Muenster cheese at room temperature_

_1 yellow onions diced_

_1 tsp fresh thyme minced_

_2 tsp fresh rosemary minced, divided_

_1 tsp brown sugar_

_2 Tbsp butter divided_

_1 Tbsp olive oil_

Grilled cheese sandwiches are one of his go-to comfort foods when he can’t sleep, something that Ben hasn’t been doing a lot of lately. He could blame the graduate program he’s in right now, but he’s never been a great sleeper.

He makes his way into the shared kitchen with his bag of groceries to make what will be the best grilled cheese sandwich of his life. The only great thing about being an insomniac is having the kitchen entirely to himself at this hour. Living in the graduate student resident hall on campus isn’t the most ideal, but it’s saving him money. It allows him a chance to pick up higher end ingredients to try new recipes and meals.

Since none of the other graduate students are typically awake and in the kitchen this early in the morning, Ben feels comfortable to be walking around in his flannel pajama bottoms and white sleep shirt. His socked feet softly pad against the dingy linoleum flooring as he quietly pulls out the tools he needs to make his favorite comfort food. Hopefully once he eats, he’ll be able to get some sleep tonight.

Ben is so focused on dicing the onions and thyme that he doesn’t hear her come in until the microwave door creaks open. Turning his head slightly, he sees her holding a Styrofoam cup, reading whatever instructions are printed on it with such concentration that he can’t help but smile a little.

She wears her chestnut brown hair in three messy buns on her head, and the white spaghetti strap camisole and gray sweatpants definitely have him looking at her over his shoulder. He thinks he’s seen her around campus, but between his classes, his TA schedule, and unusual sleep patterns, Ben doesn’t socialize much.

He goes back to dicing the onions and checking the heat setting on the stove when she bumps against him at the sink. She greets him with a sheepish grin as she pours hot water into the cup to fill it and walks back over to the microwave.

That’s when he realizes that she’s making noodles in a cup.

Noodles in a cup? No, that won’t do.

She’s about to slide the cup into the microwave when he speaks.

“You don’t really want to eat that, do you?”

She turns her head, her bright hazel eyes looking back at him in surprise. “Excuse me?”

"The noodles in the cup thing you have there,” he says, motioning to her. “You really don’t want to eat that.”

“And why wouldn’t I?” she asks tersely.

“Because noodles in a cup isn’t great?” he says with a shrug. She huffs as she closes the microwave door.

“What do you suggest I eat instead of midnight noodles then?”

Ben looks up from the cutting board as he begins to place his carefully measured ingredients to the side. “I’ll make you a grilled cheese sandwich instead,” he tells her assuredly. “I can’t let you eat that overly processed crap in a cup that you call midnight noodles.”

“It is not crap!” she says with a laugh as she moves to sit at the kitchen island. “It’s only 25 cents and it happens to be really filling. Great on a broke college student budget.”

Ben scoffs as he begins to grate Gruyere into a small bowl. He wishes he had a better grater, but he makes do with what the shared kitchen area has. He continues to work his food prep in a comfortable silence, feeling how her eyes watch his hands move from the cutting board to the stove behind him.

“So, what kind of grilled cheese sandwich is this?” she asks. He steals a glance up to see a soft smile on her face. He also notices the mesmerizing constellation of freckles across her cheeks. Someone as pretty as she is shouldn’t be eating out of a Styrofoam cup. He doesn’t even know her name, but she deserves to be treated to all the best food that can be presented on a plate.

“Do you like white cheddar, Gruyere and Muenster cheeses?” He’s already slicing from the cheese wheels for her and places them on a small plate. She carefully picks up the slice of white cheddar, giving it a whiff before taking a small bite. Her eyes light up as she nods her head.

“That’s…tasty,” she declares before picking up the small bowl of grated Gruyere and smelling it. Ben has to keep himself from laughing when she makes a face.

“It’s a little smelly, but it’ll be great on the bread when it melts,” he explains before turning back to resume his work. Ben adds the diced onions, thyme and rosemary to the hot skillet, the rich aromas hitting his nose as they begin to sizzle. Midnight Noodles Girl is quiet behind him while he cooks. He adds the brown sugar once the onions have cooked, and he can already taste how amazing these caramelized onions will be on the sandwich. He has to resist treating himself to the cooked onions once they’re finished. He’s got to save them for the sandwiches.

Ben begins prepping the skillet for the main event as he adds the butter and remaining rosemary. Once melted, he begins to lay the bread down to cook. 

“What’s your name?” Midnight Noodles Girl chirps when he turns around to grab the sliced pieces of cheese.

“I’m Ben,” he tells her. He tries not to get distracted by how she’s chewing on her bottom lip as she looks to peer around him. 

“I’ve got enough to make us both a sandwich, if that’s okay?”

She nods her head. “Since you insist that I can’t eat, and I quote, ‘overly processed crap in a cup that you call midnight noodles’, then sure, one of your fancy sandwiches will do.” He can hear a playful inflection in her tone as he resumes his cooking. He can’t allow the bread to overcook or it’ll ruin the sandwich.

Minutes later, Ben grins to himself as the aromas of the cheeses melting and cooking blanket the kitchen. He can literally feel his stomach growling in anticipation. His heart also flutters at the thought that he’s about to share this delicious meal with the pretty Midnight Noodles Girl behind him.

Once finished, he puts the perfectly sliced and plated grilled cheese sandwich in front of her. He sprinkles some extra Gruyere on top and the rest of the thyme for presentation.

Midnight Noodles Girl gives him a grin. “Ok chef, describe your dish.”

“Are you planning to judge it?” he asks.

She straightens in the chair and clears her throat for effect. “Chef, please describe what you have cooked for me.”

He smirks. “I don’t even know your name.”

“It’s Rey,” she replies with a smile.

“Well, then, Rey,” he pauses as he watches her smile widen. “I have prepared for you the Ultimate Gourmet Grilled Cheese Sandwich,” Ben says with a bit of flair in his tone. “This gourmet grilled cheese sandwich has herbed caramelized onions, Gruyere and white cheddar cheeses, and is cooked in rosemary butter.” 

Rey pretends to be inspecting her slice of grilled cheese with careful precision. She runs a nail over the crispy crust of the thick cut Artisan bread. “You have a nice browning to the bread,” she says in a mock judge tone that makes him chuckle. She can’t keep a straight face as she pulls the slice apart to reveal the gooey, melted cheese.

“The visual ratio of gooey cheese is acceptable. But the biggest question of all is how it will taste?”

Ben folds his arms across his chest as he watches her take a bite of the sandwich. The moment that she pulls the sandwich back from her mouth, her lips twist in a smile as her eyes close. A satisfied hum escapes as she begins to chew, and he can tell by her expression that the sandwich is great.

Ben has never been happier to watch someone eating a grilled cheese sandwich - one that he made - in his life. He’s so glad he made the trip to Maz’s Market to get what he needed for this meal tonight. 

“What’s the verdict?” he asks as he prepares to eat his own sandwich. Rey nods her head several times in appreciation.

“This is so much better than the overly processed crap in a cup that I called midnight noodles,” she sighs contentedly as she continues to eat. When she pauses and smiles at him, he feels his heart flutter again.

“Thank you, Ben; this is delicious,” she says with sincerity.

He decides that he’ll always cook for her whenever possible. As long as he is around her, he will make sure she never eats overly processed crap in a cup again.

**

It becomes something he looks forward to. Almost every night that he is up and preparing something in the shared kitchen, Rey is there. She sits in front of the kitchen island and watches as he prepares and cooks up various dishes. He’s begun to think about what he would like to cook for Rey instead for himself when he grocery shops.

He’s learned that Rey will eat just about anything. Since she opened up to him about her foster care experiences and how she often went hungry, Ben has made it his goal to make sure when he makes them something there will be leftovers so she can take some back to her room.

Rey really enjoyed the mushroom risotto that he made last week, especially when he brought freshly baked garlic bread. She didn’t know if she’d like the portobello mushrooms, but Ben gave her more in her portion than his when she squealed while giving it a taste. He made sure to add some extra parmesan and showed her how to grate it when she asked.

A couple of weeks ago, he was in the mood for curry and remembered Rey mentioning she’d never had it. It may be a bit unusual to make curry at 2am, but with Rey laughing behind him and teasing him about how much lime to add to the green matcha chicken curry, (the recipe called for one; she wanted there to be an extra lime), Ben thought maybe it wasn’t so weird after all. The curry was delicious, and Rey was happy to have an extra bowl to take back with her.

She’s never showed up with another Styrofoam cup of noodles. Ben will cook anything and everything she wants to eat as long as she keeps showing up at night.

**

Rey beats him to the kitchen one night. Ben was running behind, triple checking that he collected the right ingredients for tonight’s dish. But when he sees her standing with an apron covering her jeans and shirt, he suddenly forgets what he was going to prepare tonight. She’s wearing her hair down, and he has to stop himself from reaching out to run his fingers through it.

“Ah, Chef Ben,” she greets him with a flourish. “Have a seat.”

He places the bag of groceries on the counter and sits at her usual spot at the kitchen island. “What’s going on?”

“I thought I would bake us something tonight,” Rey announces. “I hope you like chocolate.”

He thinks he would like anything she makes, no matter the flavor. “Yeah, sure, that’s fine.”

“I know you’ve said that you’re not a dessert before dinner kind of guy,” she starts, “and it may not be a fancy dessert since you’ve been spoiling me for weeks with fine dining in the middle of this dorm, but…” she motions to the ingredients. “We can eat leftover cookie dough.”

He can’t help but smirk. “Don’t you know that eating raw cookie dough is bad for you?”

Rey leans forward, and he catches the sweet vanilla smell of her perfume. “I’ll take my chances,” she whispers before turning around, leaving him wanting more than just whatever she’s baking tonight.

She begins to prepare chocolate truffle cookies. He watches as her hands work the 6 tablespoons of butter, eggs, a cup of white sugar, the flour and vanilla extract before adding the unsweetened chocolate squares and chips. Rey hums to herself quietly as she mixes before turning around to cock her head at him.

“Want to help me?” she asks. He doesn’t hesitate to join her side after he washes his hands. Carefully, Rey begins to form the dough in the bowl before she moves it between them.

“Make about a one inch ball and space them on this cookie sheet,” she instructs him. Together, their hands graze one another’s as they both reach for cookie dough. The touch sends a shiver through him. In all of the time they’ve spent together in the kitchen, they’ve never been this close.

Distracted, he doesn’t see it coming when Rey puts a dollop of the dough on his nose with a giggle.

“That’s not where that goes,” he chides her playfully before reaching over and putting cookie dough on the tip of her nose.

“Oh yeah? I thought we weren’t supposed to play with our food.” Rey bumps against his hips and unsuccessfully tries to put another dollop of cookie dough on his face. Ben gently grabs her wrists to fight her off as she squeals with laughter.

And then before he knows it, she’s pulled him down by his shirt collar, and she is kissing him. He can taste the semisweet chocolate chips she snuck into her mouth when she was working to fold them into the dough as she opens her mouth under his. With cookie dough on his hands, he tries to not cradle her face to deepen the kiss. Rey doesn’t waver as her dough covered hands land over his neck and up his cheeks.

When they pull back, breathless, Ben looks down at their cookie sheet with misshapen dough balls and dough all over the counter. He can feel the soft cookie dough on his face, but all he can think about is the bright smile on Rey’s face.

“Did we ruin dessert?” he asks, not actually caring if it’s ruined or not.

“Not at all. I think you taste like the perfect dessert,” she says with a wink. The chocolate truffle cookies are forgotten when Rey surges to her tip toes to kiss him again. 

Who said dessert before dinner was a bad thing? This is the only way to do dessert from now on, he thinks. It’s the perfect kind of midnight snack.

**Author's Note:**

> I love these two. And grilled cheese sandwiches.
> 
> Ben Solo's Gourmet Grilled Cheese Sandwich is a real thing! - [here it is!](https://www.thechunkychef.com/ultimate-gourmet-grilled-cheese/)  
> Rey's Chocolate Truffle Cookies - [here it is!](https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/25808/chocolate-truffle-cookies/?internalSource=hub%20recipe&referringId=15117&referringContentType=Recipe%20Hub&clickId=cardslot%203)
> 
> \---
> 
> Special love and thank you to [Sophia_Ravencrest](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sophia_Ravencrest/pseuds/Sophia_Ravencrest), who is an amazing beta and cheerleader!
> 
> I'm also over at [twitter](https://twitter.com/bellestarreylo). Come say hi to me!


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